Murray suffers semi heartbreak

Novak Djokovic

Published: 1:57pm, 27th January 2012
Updated: 7:13am, 28th January 2012

Andy Murray's hopes of reaching a third successive Australian Open final were extinguished by Novak Djokovic after an extraordinary five-set encounter in Melbourne.

It seemed Murray was on track to record his fifth victory in 11 meetings with the Serbian when he led two sets to one and with the world number one again struggling with the breathing difficulties he experienced in his quarter-final victory over David Ferrer.

But Djokovic is made of stern stuff and he romped through the fourth and then edged a dramatic fifth as Murray, having hit back from 5-2 down to level at 5-5, dropped his serve to lose 6-3 3-6 6-7 (4/7) 6-1 7-5. The defending champion will face Rafael Nadal in Sunday's final.

"It is difficult to describe, I was just trying to focus on every point," Djokovic said of his comeback. "Andy deserves the credit to come back from 5-2 down, he was fighting, I was fighting. It was evidently a physical match, it was one of the best matches I have played, emotionally and physically it was equally hard."

It was Djokovic who struck first, breaking for a 3-1 lead in the first set and, although Murray hit straight back, another break gave him a 4-2 advantage and he kept a level head to serve it out.

The momentum remained with the Serbian as he moved 2-0 up in the second with Murray still struggling to find any kind of rhythm, but having levelled at 2-2 the Scot's game suddenly returned. He broke again for 4-2 and although Djokovic battled through pain to break back, Murray reclaimed the upper hand straight away and served out the set.

If the first two sets were attritional the third, all 88 minutes of it, was simply punishing, especially in the latter stages. The momentum had seemed to swing back towards Djokovic but Murray played a solid tie-breaker to win it 7-4 and edge two sets to one ahead.

After what had gone before, the fourth was totally unexpected, Djokovic romping through it in just 25 minutes, breaking three times en route with Murray offering very little resistance.

The earlier signs of fatigue and distress from Djokovic had now disappeared and he made a strong start to the final set, opening up a 5-2 advantage before Murray fought back to level the match.

He almost broke again but Djokovic held serve, and it was to prove his final opportunity as the Serbian then broke to clinch an extraordinary match in four hours and 50 minutes.